Vodafone Wallet & PayPal ink payments partnership

Vodafone has teamed up with PayPal to expand contactless payments across its mobile wallet.

The partnership will enable PayPal customers to link their accounts to Vodafone Wallet, allowing them to use Android smartphones to make contactless payments. According to PayPal’s European CEO, this marks the first time PayPal users will be able to make contactless payments.

The announcement marks the next step for Vodafone in the payments space, after adding contactless payment capabilities to its Wallet at the beginning of last year, allowing users topay using MasterCard and Visa.

The network explained that its latest collaboration will see it expand the service to target ‘millions’ of new customers.

Stefano Parisse, group director Consumer Services, Vodafone Group said: ‘We are excited to allow millions of PayPal customers to make payments at the physical point-of-sale using their Vodafone Wallet, which provides highly secure mobile payments. Vodafone customers will now enjoy the ability to use PayPal to fund payments made using the Vodafone Wallet.

The partnership comes as a number of companies recently announced the adoption of mobile payments is on the rise. Money transfer service Paym recently revealed an 89% increase in smartphone transactions. Figures from Transport for London also found that more and more consumers are opting to go contactless, attributing the increase in mobile payments to this shift.